Promise
by Iggy-bunny and brothers
Summary: It's Germany's first world meeting, and he's a little bit scared. Just when he thinks he's doomed, a boy around his age comes to his rescue. Fail summary is fail. Rated T because I'm just paranoid like that :P.


**Hai guys! This is my first Hetalia fanfiction! I got the idea from this really cool picture I saw. It was sooooo CUTE! Anyways, I'm sorry if the story's really bad! White flag, white FLAG! *waves white flag frantically***

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!**

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The meeting room was so big! There were tables and chairs everywhere. The ceiling seemed to stretch to the sky. There were thousands of people there, thousands of _countries_ in fact. And all of them seemed bigger and scarier than the last one.

Little Ludwig Beilshmidit, or the newest country, Germany, clung on to his brother Prussia's pant leg, refusing to let go. His eyes darted around the room, searching for someone his age to talk to, just to feel comfortable and to know that someone was in the same position as he was. But all of them were bigger and older than him…and bigger and older than his bruder as well! His eyes then came in contact with one of the older countries and he saw the country smirk at him. He gave a little shriek of fright and dove behind his bruder's leg. Prussia saw this and laughed.

"What's wrong, brat? You afraid?" he asked teasingly. Germany gave a small nod of his head. "Okay, kid. I'm gonna make sure you're alright, since this is your first meeting. But you have to stop being such a coward! Do you want other countries laughing at you and calling you weak all the time?"

Germany didn't respond. He was perfectly fine with being called a coward, as long as he didn't have to fight any of these big countries! He kept on holding on to his brother who in return laughed at him and led him to a chair with his flag on it. "Now sit here, bruder," Prussia said. He picked Germany up and placed him on the chair before sitting down on the chair next to him. "Now, stay there," he said. Germany nodded obediently and stayed on his seat.

As soon as the meeting started, chaos erupted everywhere. Chairs were flying, papers were floating, men were strangling each other, and somehow in the madness, Prussia had gotten in a wrestling match with Austria, leaving little Germany all alone to defend himself. Seeing that Prussia wasn't here to protect him, he shrank down lower in his seat, not wanting to be seen by anyone around him.

"Oh hon hon hon, what do we have here?"

Germany whipped around to see three men surrounding him. one of them had long blonde hair and blue eyes. This was the man that he saw earlier. Another one of them had short blonde hair and the weirdest eyebrows Ludwig had ever seen. The third person had black hair, tan skin, and wore a mask on his face. Germany whimpered and shrank farther into his seat. "Oi, isn't this Prussia's brother?" the man with the weird eyebrows said.

The one with the long hair nodded. "It won't be easy getting his land, though," he said. "Prussia's very protective, especially about what happened a couple months back."

"I don't think that Prussia wouldn't mind if he lost a little land," the black haired man said. His grin was sinister, and Germany felt himself wanting to crawl under the table.

"Hey, I found him first!" the eyebrows said.

"Non, it was I who caught sight of him first," the long haired man said. He turned to Germany and walked closer to him, stretching out his hand. "Would you like to come with me, mon ami?" he asked. "I'm a good friend of Prussia. You can trust me."

"Trust you?!" the bushy eyebrow man said. "Hah!"

The long haired man frowned and turned to him. "Well, at least he can trust me with my cooking!" he exclaimed.

"My cooking's just fine you bloody frog, thank you very much!" the eyebrow man said. "Besides, I need more land than you do!"

"His land is closer to me than you!" the long haired man said. "At least I can get to him faster!"

Germany watched as the two of them fought when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked and saw it was the black haired man with the mask. "Why don't you leave the three of them and come with me?" he asked. The man's hand clutched his shirt tightly. Germany whimpered softly at the rough feel. He felt like crying.

"Hey!"

Germany turned around and saw a little boy around his age glaring at the three countries that were surrounding him, his arms folded. the boy's hair was a light brown, with an odd curl sticking up on one side. His eyes were a mix between brown and auburn. He stared at the three men coldly. "Shame on you three, for picking on a brand new country like that!" he exclaimed. "As of now, he's still Prussia's, and although he is busy at the moment, that doesn't give you the right to harass him like you're doing right now! Give him some space!"

The long haired man sighed. "Oui, I guess you're right," he said. "Besides, I don't think I'm one to pick a fight with Prussia."

"Yeah, I guess it can wait for just a little while," the eyebrow man said, scratching the back of his head. "But next time, I'll be the one to get him!"

"You?" the long haired man said. "That'll be the day!" The two of them started arguing away, leaving Germany, the boy, and the black-haired man there. The boy turned to the man. "Well? What are you waiting for?" he asked.

"Do you really think I'm going to let a small country like you get the best of me?!" the man exclaimed. "You're such a weak coward. Do you honestly think that you could stand a chance against me?"

Germany looked at the boy with anticipation. He hadn't flinched a bit. "I may be a coward, but I have enough strength to take you down personally!" he exclaimed. "And you know that, _Ottoman Empire_."

Germany looked up at the '_Ottoman Empire_', who seemed to be suddenly afraid of the boy. He flinched visibly before regaining his composure. "Tsk, I didn't need him anyway," he said. He got up and walked away from Germany and the boy. Germany looked at the boy in awe. "T-thank you!" he exclaimed.

"It wasn't a problem at all," the boy said, smiling. "I was bullied a lot when I was a bit younger. It's not right. Besides, I don't really like fighting. So I try to prevent it as much as possible. Hey, why don't we go outside? It's much quieter out there. And nothing ever gets done at these meetings." Germany nodded and the two of them walked out the door.

Once they were outside, Germany turned to the boy. "You're really brave, you know that?" he said. The boy shook his head and smiled.

"I wasn't really brave there, I was just angry," he said. "Most of the time I run away or I wave a white flag that I made. I'm not really that brave, in fact, most of the time I'm a coward." He laughed lightly. "I think the reason that I wanted to help you out the most was because of a friend of mine. He looked a lot like you."

"Really?"

"Mmhm," the boy said. "He was about our age. He was strong, and great, and a powerful country. I lived with him for a long time, with Mr. Austria and Ms. Hungary. Every now and then he would scare me a bit, and his food kind of tasted horrible, but at the same time, he was my best friend. We would watch the stars together, and play together, or just talk together. I would teach him how to draw, and he would teach me how to fight. And I…I loved him." A few tears dropped down the boy's face.

"N-no! don't cry!" Germany said. He got a flower from a vase and gave it to the boy. "I-if you cry, then I'll cry, and then we'll both be crying and that won't be good! Big bruder Prussia says it's bad to cry! P-please stop crying!" he exclaimed. The boy took it and smiled. "Grazie," he said.

"So…so what happened to your friend?" Germany asked. The boy gave him a sad smile.

"One day, he had to go to war. I met him for the last time that day, and together we said farewell to each other, and I told him that he had to come back to me, or else…And he told me, he promised me that he would come back for me, but so many years passed, and then big brother France told me that he had killed him and I was so sad…he promised to come back, b-but he never did!" the boy launched himself into Germany's arms. Germany's eyes widened at the sudden impact, but he held the boy softly, rubbing his back like Prussia did when Germany was upset. The boy cried in his shoulder, his hands clinging onto the fabric of Germany's shirt. "I-I'm sorry, it's just that you look s-so much like him!" the boy wailed. "Why is it that the ones who I love always leave me? Holy Rome!" He sobbed harder, his breath growing quicker and his heart racing. Germany was still trying to calm him down. "It's okay," he said, "I'm pretty sure he's in a better place now." The boy got off his shoulder and smiled sadly.

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right," the boy said. He rubbed his eyes dry. "T-thank you, I needed to calm myself down." He looked at Germany and smiled. "You're really act like my friend too. He was really kind."

"W-well, if I'm like you're friend a lot; can't we be friends as well?" Germany asked with a hopeful smile.

"No!" the boy exclaimed. "I-if we're friends, then I'll get you in trouble, and you'll die like Holy Rome and my Grandpa Rome! B-besides, Mr. Austria and Mr. Prussia don't like each other a lot. Mr. Austria might not let me see you because you're Mr. Prussia's younger brother. I-I don't want you to get hurt like Holy Rome got hurt! I…I cant let someone die because of me!"

"Hmm…" Germany muttered, careful in thought. His eyes suddenly brightened. "Don't worry! I'll train, and get stronger everyday! In the meantime, try to gain your independence. Once we're both independent countries, I'll find you and we'll be allies and best friends! But for now, we can just grow stronger and braver together!"

The boy's eyes widened in shock. "Y-you mean it? but…but what if a country is too strong and you die?"

"Well, I'm not going to die!" Germany exclaimed, his newfound burst of confidence soaring to the sky. "You just promise that you won't die either, okay?" he held out his hand and put down all his fingers except his pinkie.

"But what if the promise is broken like Holy Rome broke his promise with me?"

"I'm not going to break my promise, since big bruder Prussia says it's bad to break promises," Germany said. He held out his hand and put down all his fingers except his pinkie. "What do you say? Pinkie promise?"

The boy smiled brightly as his eyes brimmed with tears. "Pinkie promise" he exclaimed. His pinkie hooked with Germany's as the two boys's smiled at each other brightly.

"Hey, brat, how's it going?" Prussia asked. He walked over to Germany and ruffled his hair. Usually, Germany would let his brother ruffle it even though he hated it, but he said he was going to be strong for his new friend, and that meant not letting others push him around. He frowned and swatted his bruder's hand away from his head. "Stop that!" he exclaimed.

His bruder looked at him in surprise then started laughing. "Kesesese~ What's wrong brat? I thought you liked that!"

"I don't!" Germany said indignantly. "And stop calling me brat!" He looked back at his new friend who gave him a soft smile. Germany smiled back.

"Prussia what are you…Italy!" A new voice exclaimed. Austria and Hungary burst through the door and ran up to the boy. "Where were you? We've been looking for you everywhere!" Austria exclaimed. Italy's eyes widened and he panicked.

"H-he was just talking to me!" Germany exclaimed. Austria and Hungary looked at Germany for one second and immediately their faces softened. Austria sighed and looked up at Prussia who looked completely serious for once.

"Just take care of him," Austria said. Prussia scoffed.

"I'll take better care of him than when you took care of you-know-who," Prussia sneered, his eyes blazing with fury. Germany had never seen his brother so angry before. He was kind of frightened.

Austria made a little hissing sound and glared at him. "That was not my fault and you know it. if you want to blame someone, blame yourself and France. You were his brother, after all." Germany let out a soft gasp. Italy's friend was Prussia's younger brother too?

"Well it's your fault you didn't help him!" Prussia exclaimed. "Honestly, I tried to persuade my boss to switch sides, but he wouldn't! if only you had sucked up you little assy cowardice then you might have been able to save him!"

Silence wavered in the air. Germany looked at his new friend and saw him looking like he was about to cry. He walked over to Hungary and tugged lightly on her dress. Hungary looked down at him and looked at Italy. She frowned and turned to Prussia and Austria. "Guys, stop fighting. You're making Germany and Italy uncomfortable."

The two German countries suddenly remembered that the two boys were still there. "Sorry," Austria said bluntly. He grabbed Italy's arm roughly and started to lead him away. "Come on; let's go," he said. Prussia put his hand behind Germany's shoulder and pushed him the other way. "Let's go too, bruder," he said. As they were walking, he leaned into his brother's ear. "Pretend you didn't here a word of that," he whispered. Germany looked up at his older brother before looking back at Italy. Their eyes met. Germany put up his pinkie and smiled. Italy smiled and did the same thing before turning his head to look back at the direction he was walking in. Germany looked up at Prussia again. "Preußen?" he asked.

Prussia looked down at his brother in surprise. He hadn't heard his brother call him that in a long time. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Can we train together when we get home?"

"Why?"

Germany shrugged. "No reason."

"Okay," Prussia said, "But you're going to have to work hard. No crying."

"I won't cry. I'm not weak," Germany said.

Prussia smiled and hugged his brother close to him. "Good. I'm proud," he said. When they got home, the two brothers trained-hard. But the smile never left Germany's face, because he knew that not only had he made his brother proud, but that he had made a new friend. That night, he dreamed of a boy wearing black robes and a girl wearing a green dress.

****SKIP OF TIME****

Two figures sat on a grassy hill, staring out to the countless stars above them. One was a male with light blonde hair and baby blue eyes. The other was a male with light brown hair with a curl sticking up on the side and brownish-auburn eyes. They were very quiet, just taking in the vastness of the sky and enjoying each other's company. Then the one with the curl spoke.

"Say, Germany." The blonde one moved his head in the direction of the brown haired one. "Ja Italy?" Germany asked.

"Why do you train so much?"

Germany turned his head back to look up at the stars above him. "I actually don't know," he said. "All I remember is making a promise a long time ago. That's when I started taking my training seriously."

"What was the promise?" Italy asked, suddenly interested in the German's story.

"I can't remember that either," Germany said, "I can't even remember who I made the promise to either."

"Well, I hope that even if you forgot your promise, I hope you still keep it," Italy said. he stood up. "Come on Germany, it's getting chilly, and I don't want to catch a cold!" the German man stood up and smiled warmly at his friend. The two of them took each other's hands and walked away, leaving the faded memory of two pre-teen boy's and two children, both holding hands, and satisfied that both of their promises were kept.

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**Like it? Hate it? Review! But please no flames! *grabs white flag of surrender***


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